Comedian Kunal Kamra, cartoonist Rachita Taneja have been given contempt notices by the Supreme Court, asked to respond in 6 weeks for their their criticism of the top court in tweets and illustrations respectively.
They have been given six weeks to respond in the separate cases. The court, however, has exempted them from personal appearances.
On 12 November, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had given consent to several people, including lawyers, to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Kamra for his tweets criticising the Supreme Court and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.
On Thursday, the court had reserved its order on the matter of deciding whether or not to issue them show-cause notices.
The case against Kamra relates to a series of tweets he put out criticising the Supreme Court for the manner in which it had fast-tracked Republic TV owner Arnab Goswami’s bail plea in an abetment to suicide case, even as thousands of undertrials languishing in jails across the country find it difficult to get a hearing.